Neelima Tikku: Armed with Pen

JWB Post

June 24, 2014

Neelima Tikku, a lady who personifies grace, beauty and charm when pours her torrent flow of emotions on paper – a new story to stir our souls takes shape.

Born to educator Kashmiri parents as the youngest child with elder brothers, Neelima was a pampered daughter and sister. She is married to businessman Dr. Anil Tikku and has two engineer daughters who are well-settled with their families. Neelima is a writer who authored numerous stories published by reputed magazines like Sarita, Mukta, Grah Shobha, Meri-Saheli and many others. She also authored many books which won her accolades. She is the founder and head of Spandan Mahila Sahityak and Shekshik Sansthan; along with being an active member of Shri Krishna Krapa Sahitya Sahayata Samiti, Jaipur. Through her organization she helps children who are deprived of primary education. She is also the editor of Magazine called ‘Samartha’.

Launching of a Writer:

At the age of 16, she participated in an All Rajasthan Inter School Essay Writing competition and to her surprise she won it. When she was awarded the prize by the then Governor of Rajasthan Sh. Raghukul Tilak, he expressed his surprised and joy of a Kashmiri girl winning a Hindi Essay competition. He also advised her to take up Hindi literature if she ever wanted to write more. She followed this guidance and rest is the history.

Boosters added:

She wrote her first story titled ‘Sachchi Shradhdhanjali’ and sent it to the famous women magazine ‘Mukta’ without telling anyone in the family. To her surprise, it got published along her photograph. That was the first time everyone came to know about the fact that their daughter is a Writer.

Neelima shares: “I was lucky to get married in a family which had an intellectually stimulating environment – and above all my mother-in-law Dr. Kumud Tikku turned me into the person I am today. She made me read a lot and gave me space to write. She herself was a well-known doctor of Jaipur of her times and also served as Justice of Juvenile court. She worked significantly for the well-being of women and children. Our organisation ‘Spandan’ was formed by her motivation and she gave me to work towards the upliftment of women and children. She made me work alongside her so that I got trained. She wanted me to write about women, their problems, solutions, etc. She sharpened my skills and looked after my every world while I was busy writing. When she passed away, I felt as if my pillar of strength had gone.”

The Essays, Stories, Books and Awards:

Neelima has authored many stories and books. She is at her best when she is talking about the hierocracies of society or individuals using her sarcastic humour.

She is awarded consecutively for 3 years for the stories ‘Ek Nayi Neela’ & ‘Parbatiya ki Sooch’; Poems like ‘ManviyaHawan’ & ‘Swachparyawaran’.

She has won 3 times in the All India Story writing competition by Delhi press.

Has won Bharti-Ratna and Bharti-Shiromadi by Rashtriya Rajbhasha Peeth Allahabad for constantly contributing to enrich the Hindi literature in the year 2010.

Dr Sarogini Kulshrestra award for the story book ‘Rishto Ki Bagiya’ by Akhil Bharitiya Sahitya Parishad in the year 2011.

Women Achiever award for excellence in the field of literature in 2013, etc.

She also has been the Guest Editor for many magazines, had her broadcast of story in All India Radio – Jaipur. She has authored books like ‘Rishto Ki Bagiya’ in the year 2010 and then ‘Bin Pothi Sab Soon’ in 2013.

Under her organisation Spandan, Neelima also organizes competitions for story-writing. She encourages writers to contribute into Hindi literature by inviting to participate in Dr. Kumud Tikku Story Competition in memory of her beloved mother-in- law Late Dr. Kumud Tikku in her magazine ‘Samartha’. She also sponsors awards for the best writer in ‘Rajat Se Swarn Jayanti’ organized by Jagmag Deep Jyoti magazine in memory of her father in-law and mother in-law.